Stars In My Paws
by Aqua Butterfly Aquastar
Summary: Not long after the Great Battle comes a time of despair and turmoil, a time when loyalty and strength is tested to the very end. Tinykit is a young kit born at this time, and she proves to be the very best of the best in this terrible time. But will she crack under the pressure of a century-old prophecy? Rated T for blood, battle, and future gore.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Jayfeather heard the words of the prophecy whispered in his ear by his warrior ancestors: "Two from four will join to aid the smallest in her battle"

He tried to make sense of it, but couldn't. "I wish this prophecy would make more sense. I don't understand why they're written in riddles." he grumbled.

Five moons had passed after the Great Battle, and he had a new apprentice, Dewpaw who was Ferncloud's kit. Dewpaw sorted out the herbs and looked up at his mentor. "Jayfeather?" he meowed. "Oh yes, Dewpaw." Jayfeather meowed. "We're running low on fennel. Would you go and collect some?" he added.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock!" Bramblestar called out. Today was Lilypaw and Seedpaw's warrior ceremony and they were very excited. "Today, Seedpaw and Lilypaw will be made warriors today. Berrynose, has your apprentice done well?" Berrynose nodded in response.

"Ivypool, has your apprentice done well too?" "Yes, Lilypaw has done very well throughout her training." Ivypool called out from the crowd. " Then I, Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to learn the ways of your noble code, and I commend them as warriors in their turn." Bramblestar nodded to Seedpaw; she jumped up to the Highrock and Bramblestar proceeded. "Seedpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, and protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?" "I do." Seedpaw replied.

Seedpaw was given the name of Seedfall and Lilypaw was given the name of Lilypool. "The Clan is now dismissed." Bramblestar mewed after performing the two apprentices' ceremonies. Jayfeather saw Cinderheart pad over to the medicine cat's den. "I'm expecting kits." she mewed to Jayfeather and Dewpaw.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Tinykit! Tinykit!" Tinykit heard her sisters calling her. "Oh well, she's too small to play with us anyway." another voice, a tom's voice said. Tinykit opened her eyes and her siblings dashed across to her.

"Now, now kits, please be careful with Tinykit, she's a little smaller than you three." Cinderheart meowed gently, nosing her other kits away from Tinykit. "But I'm not small! I can play as well as them. I'm not some sort of crippled kit or something." Tinykit rejected defiantly. Cinderheart seemed taken aback. "Well then, you can go play with Honeykit, Mistykit and Rainkit." she purred.

Honeykit, Mistykit and Rainkit looked at her like she was a dancing kittypet. "What are you three looking at? Come on, let's play!" Tinykit mewed, picking up the moss-ball. "Okay…" the three other kits looked at each other questioningly. It turned out that Tinykit was very good at moss-ball. Lionblaze, their father appeared just then; it was his first time meeting his kits since they were born.

"Hi, Dad!" Honeykit squeaked. "Hello, Honeykit." he purred to the tiny golden she-cat. "Hi, Lionblaze!" Mistykit mewed squeakily. "Hi, Dad!" Rainkit, the only tom also squealed. "Hello, hello, hello my kits! How are you all doing?" Lionblaze purred again. The other kits all jumped around Lionblaze, each explaining their own story of what had happened today. "Whoa, whoa, one by one okay?" Lionblaze laughed.

Before anyone could speak, a voice meowed clearly from behind them. "Hi, Lionblaze, we're doing very well, we were just playing moss-ball." It was Tinykit, the little black she-cat's voice. "Well, well. I was wondering where my fourth kit was!" Lionblaze smiled at Tinykit. "Like I said, we were playing moss-ball." she repeated. "Good! Now be good and play while I talk to your mother." Tinykit's father walked into the nursery to visit their mother, Cinderheart. Deep down inside her heart, Tinykit knew that her father had forgotten about her.

"Cinderheart, I need to tell you something important. Leave the kits for Daisy to take care of for a while. We're going to the medicine cat den." Lionblaze hissed. "Daisy, will you take care of my kits for a moment? I need to go somewhere." Cinderheart meowed quickly to the cream-furred queen. "Sure." Daisy replied. The two cats quietly slunk around the edge of the nursery so the kits wouldn't see them. When they got to the medicine cat den, Cinderheart saw that the other two cats from the Prophecy were there: Jayfeather and Dovewing, who was expecting kits too. "There has been a new prophecy." Jayfeather meowed in a low voice. "Two from four will join to aid the smallest in her battle." Lionblaze added. "I received this prophecy three moons ago, but I couldn't make sense of it." Jayfeather continued. Then, looking over at the nursery, he meowed "Now, I can."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Is my kit going to save us from danger? And who, or what is the 'storm'?" Cinderheart looked amazed and a little frightened. "We don't know." Lionblaze murmured gravely. "But everything will reveal itself in the future." Jayfeather mewed. "I sure hope so." Cinderheart meowed as she walked out of the medicine cat den.

* * *

(A few moons later) Tinykit crept across the nursery, pretending to stalk a mouse. "Hey, what are you doing, kit?" a bossy voice mewed. Tinykit looked up and saw the two apprentices, Amberpaw and Snowpaw. They looked angrily at Tinykit. Tinykit couldn't understand why, so she blurted out "Hey, why are you staring at me? I didn't do anything wrong." Snowpaw stepped forward and meowed arrogantly, "We're looking for your sister, Littlekit." "My name's Tinykit." Tinykit mewed stoutly. "Who cares, where's your sister?" Amberpaw snapped. "Well, I don't know and you shouldn't have asked me anyway because I don't play with them and I don't even want to play with them so you should have asked someone else!" Tinykit mewed all in one breath. The two apprentices looked at each other, shrugged and went off. "Hello, Tinykit." a voice meowed. The little kit turned around and saw Ivypool. "What are you doing here?" she mewed curiously to Ivypool. "I'm expecting kits, so I'm moving into the nursery." the older she-cat explained.

"You're expecting kits?" Cinderheart had slunk back into the nursery and overheard them. "Who's the father?"

"Toadstep." Ivypool shrugged.

"Wow! Congratulations!" Lionblaze had overheard the conversation.

Tinykit felt like she was sort of being ignored, so she left the older cats talking and slipped off to a little corner in the nursery. There, she imagined that she was an apprentice, Tinypaw, who had learnt the secrets of fighting, and herself as a warrior, Tinyfeather. It was the perfect name. "Hey, Tinykit!" It was her brother, Rainkit. He was the only one who seemed to even notice her at all. "Hi, Rainkit. What's up?" She mewed, not wanting to let go of her daydreams. "Squirrelflight told me that our apprentice ceremonies are next moon!" He meowed enthusiastically. Tinykit groaned, laying her head back on her paws. "That's ages away, Rainkit! Why are you so excited? Because there's no need to be!" Rainkit, tail drooping, walked away. "Wait, Rainkit, I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that there's really no need to be so excited." Tinykit called out, stopping Rainkit in his tracks. "Okay." Rainkit mewed, looking at her with his silver head tilted slightly. Tinykit, closing her green eyes in amusement, resumed her daydreams.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Honeykit, from now on until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Honeypaw. Rosepetal will be your mentor. Mistykit, from now on until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Mistypaw. Your mentor shall be Mousewhisker."

"Cool!" Tinykit breathed. Rosepetal and Mousewhisker were brilliant warriors! "Rainkit, from now on until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Rainpaw. Your mentor shall be Icecloud." Tinykit's heart almost skipped a beat as she realized she was next. "Tinykit, from now on until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Tinypaw. Your mentor will be" Bramblestar paused to take a breath. "Squirrelflight." Tinypaw felt amazed that her mentor was Squirrelflight! She almost couldn't believe it, her other siblings had gotten not-so-good mentors and she, the wimpy little runt had gotten the deputy as her mentor. As they stepped down from the Highrock, Tinypaw ran to her mother. "Mother, I got the deputy as my mentor!" she yowled to Cinderheart. "That's great, my dear." Cinderheart purred, licking the top of Tinypaw's head. "Tinypaw!" Squirrelflight called to her from the other side of the camp. "I'm coming!" Tinypaw replied, and rushed towards her.

"First of all, I'm going to introduce the territory to you. Then, we can do some hunting, or fighting." Squirrelflight meowed strategically. "Sounds great, Squirrelflight! Rainpaw and I are going to look at the territory first too, why don't we go together?" Icecloud mewed from right next to Tinypaw. That would be great! Tinypaw looked excitedly at her older brother. Rainpaw looked rather nervous, though. Oh well, you're nervous too. Maybe Rainpaw is just a scaredy-mouse, that's all. Tinypaw thought.

"Can you smell a strong, smelly scent over here?" Squirrelflight mewed. Tinypaw stuck her nose into the air and breathed in. Her first thought was, I can't smell anything, then a strong, musky scent forced itself into her nose. "Eww!" Tinypaw and Rainpaw both meowed, recoiling. "That's ShadowClan scent. You're going to have to come across it many times, so don't be scared." Icecloud added helpfully, laughing at their expressions. Squirrelflight smiled and mewed, "Let's go to the RiverClan border next, apprentices. We don't have all day!"

After exploring the territory, Tinypaw didn't feel exhausted at all, while Rainpaw was panting and groaning. Icecloud had decided to go back first, as she had caught some prey. Seeing that there was still a long way until they reached the camp, Tinypaw started running and running… and ran right across the WindClan border. Unluckily for her, a WindClan patrol was there. "Hey, you little kit, what are you doing on our border?" a dark grey tom taunted. "Where's your mentor? Or your mother, if you're a kit." a blueish-purple eyed she-cat mewed, a little more kindly. "Well…" Tinypaw squared her little shoulders. "First of all, I'm an apprentice. Second of all, my mentor is Squirrelflight. Third, I just ran over the border by mistake, which is something every apprentice does. Problem?" Tinypaw mewed clearly for someone her age, tipping her head to one side questioningly. There was a long silence. Suddenly Squirrelflight and Rainpaw appeared behind Tinypaw, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Tinypaw, what have you gotten yourself into?" Squirrelflight meowed disapprovingly, shaking her head. "Your apprentice has crossed the border by mistake, but everything's fine now." a white she-cat explained. The WindClan patrol went back, leaving the ThunderClan cats alone.

"Huh? What did Crowfeather and Heathertail want to do with you?" Squirrelflight asked on the way back to ThunderClan's camp.

"I crossed the border, and they thought I was a kit and taunted me. But I dealt with that." Tinypaw mewed don't-carishly.

"Well then, don't cross the border again." Squirrelflight mewed after some time.

"Mmm" Tinypaw mewed, not really listening.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

The blue-furred she-cat padded out from the surrounding ferns carefully. "Tallstar." She greeted the long-tailed former leader. "Hello, Bluestar." Tallstar dipped his head in Bluestar's direction. A beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat suddenly appeared behind Bluestar, meowing her greeting. Soon all of them had arrived, and the meeting could start.

"The prophecy tells of two from four. Could "four" mean the four Clans?" Raggedstar questioned.

"It must represent the four Clans." Lionheart rumbled.

"Then I propose we choose two cats from each Clan to 'aid the smallest in her battle'." Spottedleaf meowed.

"Good idea, Spottedleaf." Bluestar praised.

"Let's decide now. We don't know when this 'battle' is going to arrive." Tallstar suggested.

"For ShadowClan, I choose Snowbird and Tawnypelt." Raggedstar announced.

"We choose Ashfoot and Mistfall [Whitetail and Onestar's kit] for WindClan." Barkface mewed after a discussion with Tallstar.

"The RiverClan representatives will be Curlfur [Duskfur's kit] and Willowshine." Crookedstar and Mudfur meowed.

"Dovewing." Bluestar mewed, half-closing her eyes in deep thought. "And Dewnose." Cinderpelt suggested, her pale blue eyes blazing. "He is a good medicine cat for his young age."

"Then it is decided." Lionheart growled. "Remember, a cat's fate and destiny lies in the paws of these cats." He fixed a hard gaze at every cat before leaving the small clearing. Everyone silently agreed with Lionheart's last words as the StarClan cats padded away without a word.

* * *

"Dovewing." A familiar-sounding voice whispered in her ear. "Hmm?" Dovewing muttered. "Dovewing!" The voice hissed urgently. Dovewing's eyes flew open. "What?" She meowed. Then she looked closer at the starry cat in front of her. "Hollyleaf!" She greeted. "Why are you here? Is there a prophecy?" She added in realization. "Yes." The black she-cat nodded gravely. "Come, we must wake Dewnose." Hollyleaf beckoned Dovewing over to the medicine cat's den. The young tom was sleeping in the corner, his flank rising steadily up and down. "Dewnose!" Dovewing hissed. Dewnose, hearing her mew stood up, obviously used to disturbances in the night. "Follow me." The black she-cat turned around quickly and sprinted out of the camp. "Wait, where are we going?" Dovewing cried, tripping over a bramble. "Ow!"

"Are you okay?" Dewnose asked, concerned about the pregnant queen. "I'm fine. Let's go quickly or else we'll lose her." Dovewing panted hastily, trying to follow the StarClan cat's quick pawsteps.

Hollyleaf finally stopped, and the two cats found themselves on the island that was for Gatherings.

"W-why are we here?" Dewnose shivered in the cold leaf-bare weather.

Hollyleaf didn't say anything. A few heartbeats later, two shivering cats and Silverstream padded onto the island.

"Silverstream!" Dovewing gasped. The StarClan cat merely smiled and sat down.

"Willowshine? Curlfur?" Dewnose tilted his head in confusion.

"Hi." Curlfur mewed, still shivering. "I think we have to wait for the other Clans or something?"

"Hey, I guess you're right." Dovewing mewed in realization. "And there are two from each Clan it seems." Willowshine, having overheard their conversation added.

More cats arrived and soon, a meeting-like conversation started. "There is a prophecy." Hollyleaf announced.


End file.
